EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
HISTORY
- Wealthy country despite the
desert - every year, Nile would
overflow, leaving the land fertile
for growing crops
- Nile River was a trade route
- Gold from Nubia in the south
- Two kingdoms, Lower and Upper
Egypt, combined by King Menes
in 3100 BC
- Many small towns, but royal cities
at Memphis and Thebes
- A single kingdom for most of its
existence - unified under the
centralized omnipotent authority
of the pharaoh (king)
Pharaohs:
- Seen as god's dwelling on earth
- Sole masters of the country and
its inhabitants
- Builders and leaders
- Initiated the design, financing,
quarrying and transport of
materials, organization of labor
and construction itself
Society:
- Divided into groups, by order of
importance: senior priests,
officials, noblemen, and army
commanders
- Most ordinary Egyptians were
farmers
- Architects, engineers,
theologians, masons, sculptors,
painters, laborers, peasants,
prisoners
- Weaving, glass-making, pottery,
metal, jewelry and furniture
- Astronomy, mathematics,
philosophy, music and writing
literature and history written on
papyrus and stone tablets
INFLUENCES GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE
- Narrow stretch of fertile and
arable land along the Nile
- Beyond riverbanks, barren desert
and rugged cliffs prevented
attack from invaders
- Mediterranean and Red seas
RELIGION
- Cult of many gods representing
nature: sun, moon, stars, animals
- After death, a person's soul went
on to enjoy eternal life in kingdom
of the God Osiris - imagined this
kingdom as a perfect version of
Egypt
- Pharaohs were buried, bringing
with them the things they might
need in the afterlife, even living
people
- Wished for a fine burial,
embalmment and funeral rites,
and a permanent tomb or
"eternal dwelling"
- Dead body had to be preserved to
house the spirit
- Remove insides, dry out the body,
filled with linen, masked and
bandaged -
Mummy/Mummification
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
DESCRIPTION
- Afterlife - life and house on earth
is temporary, the tomb is
permanent
- For sustenance and eternal
enjoyment of the deceased
- Religion is the dominant element
in Egyptian architecture
MATERIALS
- Stone was abundant in variety
and quantity
- Used for monuments and
religious buildings
- Durability of stone is why
monuments still exist to this day
- Other materials, metals and
timber were imported
- Mud bricks: for houses, palaces
(reeds, papyrus, palm branch ribs,
plastered over with clay)
ROOF & OPENINGS
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EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
- Roof was not an important
consideration
- Flat roofs sufficed to cover and
exclude heat
- No windows
- Spaces were lit by skylights, roof
slits, clerestories
WALL
- Batter wall - diminishing in width
towards the top for stability
- Thickness: 9 to 24m at temples
- Unbroken massive walls,
uninterrupted space for
hieroglyphics
DECORATIONS
- Mouldings such as "gorge" or
"hollow and roll" was inspired by
reeds
- Torus moulding
- Hieroglyphics were pictorial
representations of religion, history
and daily life
- Derived from the practice of
scratching pictures on mud
plaster walls
- Avenue of sphinxes: rows of
monsters (body of lion, head of
man, hawk, ram) leading to
monuments
Common ornaments:
Common capitals used were the lotus,
papyrus, palm which echoed indigenous
Egyptian plants, and were symbols of
fertility as well.
- The shaft represented bundle of
stems
- Palm capital: capital shaped like
the crown of a palm tree.
- Lotus capital: capital having the
shape of a lotus bud.
- Hathor-headed: capital the head
of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess
of love and happiness. head or
horns of a cow. Also, Hathoric.
Egyptian monumental architecture
which is essentially columnar and
trabeated style was mainly employed on
pyramids, tombs, and temples
- Egyptian temples, approached by
impressive avenues of sphinxes –
mythical monsters each with the
body of a lion and the head of a
man, hawk, ram or a woman
- Androsphinx - has the body of a
lion and a head of a man
- Criosphinx - has the body of a
lion and a head of a ram
- Hieracosphinx - has the body of a
lion and a head of a hawk
-
- The main entrance of the temple
is flanked by slender obelisk
which formed a strong contrast to
the massive pylons
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EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
- Courts and halls alike were
designed to produce an
impressive internal effect
- The hypostyle hall, seemingly
unlimited in size is crowded with
columns and mysteriously
illuminated from above was the
grandest achievement of
Egyptian planning
MASTABAS
- Rectangular flat-topped funerary
mound, with battered side,
covering a burial chamber below
ground
- First type of Egyptian tomb
- Developed from small and
inconspicuous to huge an
imposing
Parts:
- Stairway with 2 doors: one for
ritual, second was a false door for
spirits
- Column Hall
- Offering Chapel
- Serdab (contains statue of
deceased)
- Offering room with Stelae (stone
with name of deceased inscribed)
- Offering table
- Sarcophagus – Egyptian coffin
PYRAMIDS
- massive funerary structure
of stone or brick
- monument in the form of
a huge stone structure
with a square base and
sloping side meeting at an
apex.
- Derived from the greek
word "pyramid" or
wheaten cake
- an ancient egyptians
called them "mr" Came in
complexes:
- Offering chapel (north or
east side)
- Mortuary chapel
- Raised and enclosed
causeway leading to west
- Valley building for
embalmment and
interment rites
- Immense use of labor and
materials, built in layers,
like steps
Stepped Pyramid of Zoser, Sakkara
- World's first large-scale
monument in stone
- Designed by Imhotep
Bent Pyramid at Seneferu, Dashur
Peculiar
- for having two angles of
inclination
- Lower half of the pyramid has
54°15’ inclination
- Upper half has 43° inclination
where it shows hasty completion
Pyramids at Gizeh
- Most magnificent of pyramids
- Equilateral sides face cardinal
points
- Forms a world-famous building
group
- Designed by Isostress
Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu)
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EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

- largest among 3 pyramids

Pyramid of Chephren (Khafra or

Khafre)
- larger than Menkaura
- The Great Sphinx shows King
Chepren as a man-lion protecting
his country
Temple of Khons
Pyramid of Mykerinos (Menkaura) - Typical temple: pylons, court,
- smallest pyramid among the hypostyle hall, sanctuary, chapels
three. all enclosed by high girdle wall
- Avenue of sphinxes and obelisks
fronting pylons

Great Temple of Ammon, Karnak,

Thebes
- Grandest temple and the work of
many kings

Temple of Ammon, Luxor

Mammisi Temple
ROCK-CUT or ROCK-HEWN TOMBS
- Became the prototype of the
- Built along hillside
Greek Doric temples
- For nobility, not royalty

Tombs of the Kings, Thebes

Great Temple of Abu-Simbel
- Example of rock-cut temple
- Constructed by Rameses II
TEMPLES MORTUARY TEMPLES
- Entrance forecourt leads to
- worship/ in honor of pharaohs
imposing pylon with 4 rock cut
colossal statues of Rameses
CULT TEMPLES
sitting over 20 m high
- worship/ in honor of god
Parts:
- Entrance pylon
- Large outer court open to sky
Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri,
(hypaethral court)
Thebes
- Hypostyle hall
- Built by her architect Senmut,
- Sanctuary surrounded by
alongside that of Mentuhetep.
passages
Solely a mortuary temple
- Chapels/chambers used in
dedicated to Ammon and other
connection with the temple
gods.
service

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EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

PYLONS
- monumental gateway to the
temple consisting of slanting
walls flanking the entrance portal

Temple of Isis, Philae

OBELISKS
- upright stone square in plan, with
an electrum-capped pyramidion
on top
- sacred symbol of sun-god
Heliopolis
- usually came in pairs fronting
temple entrances
- height of nine or ten times the
diameter at the base
- four sides feature hieroglyphics

Obelisk, Piazza of S. Giovanni

- originally from Temple of Ammon,
Karnak
- it is the largest known obelisk

DWELLINGS
- Made of crude brick
- One or two storey high
- Flat roof deck
3 parts:
- Reception suite on north side -
central hall or living room with
high ceiling and clerestory
- Service quarters
- Private quarters

FORTRESSES
- Mostly found on west bank of Nile
or on islands
- Close communications with other
fortresses

Fortress of Buhen
- Headquarters & largest fortified
town near Nubia
- From here they could trade and
invade lands to the south

_ DAES, YARI